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International Women’s Day 2016 : Celebration Festival

For the past few years a team of Volunteers, led by Vanessa Boon, have put on an International Women’s Day event in the Centre of Derby. Whilst there are many important messages underpinning the event around equality, rights, patriarchy, violence etc this day is about Celebrating, Highlighting and Inspiring – but not just , by Women, solely, for Women. If that was the case, then it would be counter-productive. It is for everyone to experience, enjoy, and, in a subtle way, take time to think about how our view of the world is biased in a male-dominated society ( patriarchy) in so many ways that, perhaps, we have never even considered. The great opportunity from this event is for children to be part of something which, for a brief moment, gives them a glimpse at a range of activities, issues, sports where a different voice speaks….and for girls to be inspired!

This year the festival was housed in a large marquee which created a much more welcoming atmosphere, and encouraged the passing public to dip in, and become involved. The stage acts were excellent, and were continuous throughout the 6 hours. The space was always full, buzzing with interest, and attracted all genders, and ages.

I was impressed with last year’s event, yesterday was in another league – the team delivered an exceptional festival, and should be congratulated on so many levels!